British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Berlin in an attempt to repair relations with the EU and renegotiate some of the Brexit conditions agreed by the previous Conservative government.
The British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, announced that they expect close a new agreement at the end of the year, focused on security, trade and intelligence sharing.
Despite Starmer was against Brexitfirmly ruled out a return to the European single market, and sought to forge a “once in a generation” deal. Starmer has said in the past that the Brexit deal, which was negotiated under Boris Johnson in 2020, was a “slosh” and that the terms were not beneficial enough for the British.
One of the agreements that the EU expected was that the United Kingdom returned to the Erasmus program of study abroad, or that would make it easier for German or EU students to study in the United Kingdom. Starmer specifically ruled it out.
The new treaty is believed to be similar to the one former British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed with France in 2010, before Brexit, and will focus on defence. Meanwhile, both the EU and the UK They prepare for a possible US government of Donald Trump.
Although both leaders stated that there was no change in their positions on the Middle East and on the supply of weapons to Ukraineadded that they would focus their efforts on ending illegal smuggling networks, in an attempt to curb irregular immigration to the EU and the United Kingdom.
The leader of the German opposition, Friedrich Merz, stated yesterday that Scholz intends reduce irregular immigration to “zero”.
The new agreement could raise problems with the EU, as Brussels would have to give its approval to the trade pacts. The European Commission has so far shown its reluctance to grant concessionssince such bilateral agreements with Great Britain could encourage other EU countries to leave the single market.
Both countries are increasingly isolated in Europe, being one of the few governed by social democrats. The German federal elections They are scheduled for autumn 2025. By then, a change of Government is expected.
